Essential skills every SEO marketing professional should have

What job did you want to do when you were younger? Chances are, it wasn’t a career in digital marketing or SEO, as these lines of work probably didn’t even exist back then. However, these vocations in life are ever-present in today’s connected world and an increasing amount of talent is required to fill them.

Universities and educational institutions have now begun to recognise the importance of online marketing and are introducing degrees accordingly. But exactly what skills and expertise are needed for those pursuing an SEO related profession?

Adeptness for organisation and logic

Some people have a natural knack for puzzles or riddles, which confuse and bewilder the rest of us. There is a good chance these same individuals like to put everything in order too and have a systematic or structured approach to common problems. Both of these attributes are crucial when it comes to SEO.

Strip away the technical aspects of SEO and you can see that it is all about gathering and arranging information, solving or dealing with problems as well as noticing and understanding trends. If somebody already possesses these natural skills, then half the battle is already won. From there, learning about specific SEO matters and putting these into practice should be fairly straightforward.

Technical know-how and coding comprehension

Even though Google, Bing, and Yahoo’s algorithms are changing all the time, the technical aspects of SEO have remained the same for quite some time. Therefore, the ability to understand HTML coding is of the utmost importance if a SEO professional wants to succeed.

More often than not, the websites that achieve ranking ascendancy provide the best browsing experience. They will have been built in an accessible and organised way, which allows content to seamlessly integrate within. For that reason, comprehension of HTML coding is somewhat indispensible while knowledge of programming languages such as PHP and Javascript is highly advantageous too.

Experience or an interest in online marketing

Experience of working in the industry is clearly desirable, as certain subjects will have already been covered or understood. However, seeing as searching the internet is now ingrained and entrenched in our daily lives, there is bound to be a profusion of individuals with at least a little interest in how results are delivered.

On the surface, SEO is an incredibly interesting subject that continues to surprise and even shock incumbent marketers. But it also requires a lot of hard work, attention to detail, and endeavour to achieve search engine supremacy time and time again. This is where you’ll well and truly find out whether someone is up to the job or not.

Therefore, any individual that wants to become a search engine expert should ideally already posses some natural adeptness for organisation. Logic and reasoning can be taught, but the lucky ones are simply born with a methodical mind. And even if one is blessed with these qualities, a willingness to learn about the complicated realm of programming languages and an ongoing interest in online marketing is also very beneficial.